Kiter death at Belmont

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

The fellow who gave me my first kite lesson (and designed, manufactured, and sold kite boards) told me never to try to help a kiter relaunch or rescue his kite out on the river; simply too risky, too many things to go wrong.

\m/

brian999 · Joined: 02 Jul 2007 Posts: 3

My condolences to his family.

Keep in mind that this could easily (and has) happened to windsurfers as well as participants in any other ocean sport. Windsurfers can get caught under their sail while hooked in or knocked out by their mast. So both groups can learn from this --- perhaps it is a good idea to wear a PFD of some type.

I wouldn't blame the lifeguards, it is hard to know whether we need help. They certainly carefully watch kitesurfers who are self rescuing. I'm surprised none of us noticed him and at least asked if he was okay.

We certainly as a community need to be more cautious at Belmont Shore. But I don't the evidence is there that we're more dangerous to bystanders than windsurfers. I just have not heard of any third party injuries. In fact in Boston, the kitesurfing time restrictions at Pleasure Bay are due to a WINDSURFER seriously injuring a swimmer through a collision --- apparently the large windsurfing fin seriously injured a kid.

theq · Joined: 10 Apr 2000 Posts: 707

My condolences to the family of this kiter. Bummers don't get any deeper.

I seriously doubt that it's more dangerous to drive on the 405 than it is to kitesurf, unless you drive with your eyes closed or something. I'm not buying into that one without some sort of statistical backup. Razz

windsurfdewd · Joined: 03 Feb 2000 Posts: 9

this so absolutely terrible news,,,I am so sorry to hear of this incident, my deepest condolences to the family and his loved ones.....had I seen him in trouble I would have tried to help,,,,I am a windsurfer, i love to sail this area when its windy,,, yesterday was a nice windy day,,,me and several others came back with huge smiles,,,,,the last thing we need is an arena to start carrying knives,,,,we are all wind brothers,,,,learn to respect each other,,, know that if I see someone in trouble in the water I will offer help kiter or sailor.......i would hope the feeling is mutual....tragic tragic event,,i wish I could have helped prevent it....so sorry to all that have to endure the grief of losing this brother....

swchandler · Joined: 08 Nov 1993 Posts: 10588

As sad as a situation like this truly is, it's unfortunate that a rude and crass character like gregorvass wants to take an unwarrented cheap shot cut at County Lifeguards. It quite clear to me that gregorvass lacks the real details here to make such a ridiculous call, and that he ultimately embarasses us all with such nonsense. We can only hope that he has enough sense left to disappear and save us all from any further foolish outbreaks.

rowena · Joined: 13 Aug 2003 Posts: 168 Location: Mars satellite

Brian, dude, where have you been? A kiter took out a man sitting on the beach at Leo Carrillo this summer. Sent him to the hospital with a spinal injury. Have you ever googled "kite surfing crashes"?

There have been numerous posts on this forum concerning kiting safety, mostly sincere, many silly and humorous, and some informative. One that I remember was from a guy (who obviously has a few more brain cells than moi...) who looked at the physics, the square meter area that kiters vs. windsurfers impact. Something like fifteen square feet for windsurfers, and hundreds of square feet for kiters, because of their lines.

I'm sure there are small knives we could carry, but do we really want to go there? If you have to carry a knife in this sport, something's wrong...

I wouldn't blame other people on the water, or lifeguards. Hard to know when someone's just fiddling with their gear...

gregorvass · Joined: 21 Nov 1996 Posts: 1113 Location: Behind You

My point is and was DO NOT RELY ON ANYONE BUT YOURSELF TO BAIL YOU OUT.

Socal lifeguards are high school students with very little experience.

That is a fact!

Don't go out in crowded places if you are learning.
Don't go out alone if you are learning.
I have been kiting since 1999 and yes there were problems even then, but use judgment not ego.
If you want to learn do it in the winter time when the beaches are empty and take a friend who has kited for more then three hours.

RE: Kiters at LEO. If you kite in the line up DON'T zig zag on the inside and snack everybody .

GO OUT and LINE UP AND WAIT FOR YOUR TURN.
JUST LIKE WINDSURFERS.
THIS I THING IS A LOGICAL AND FAIR SOLUTION.

AND YES SOCAL LIFEGUARDS ARE KOOKS!!!!!!!!!!

brian999 · Joined: 02 Jul 2007 Posts: 3

Rowena, I didn't know about the incident at Leo.

My point is not that third party injuries never happen, but that the vast majority only affect the kiter involved. I think the case against kiting has been vastly overstated. Lots of sports occasionally injure people. For example, bicyclist hit pedestrians all the time. But we're not arguing to ban bicycling at the beach.

If you have kitesurfers who are disobeying the rules, running over swimmers, etc, those specific kiteboarders should be dealt with. Perhaps you can get some support from the lifeguards to have them write tickets to those people.

cbknap · Joined: 03 Jun 1997 Posts: 373

the death of a fellow wind lover is catastrophic. anger is misplaced until we find out who and what happened. I was thinking about this a lot today. If you're any kind of waterman/woman, you know and respect people from the other facets of the sport. Windsurfers, you know at least a handful of kiters you like and respect. Same for kiters--you know those sailors that would help you if you needed it. Now imagine the victim of this accident is one of those friends from the other side.

If anyone knows this guy or was there that day, please share with us. I'm sure he has family and friends who are devastated.

Those with free-floating anger should post in another forum.

--chris

nealpar · Joined: 25 Oct 1998 Posts: 624

I heard from a Belmont regular, that he was a nice guy, somewhat shy, and that the few people he knew at the beach happened to be distracted yesterday. Gregor is right that a beginner should NEVER be alone, and from what I heard, the poor guy didn't have anyone watching him!

As far as the lifeguards, I feel that the older they are the better they are, and lately, all I see is young kids in the towers.

Tsokat, I am glad if you were entertained by the disagreements among Leo people displayed recently at this forum, however, this is not the time for silly insults suggesting that we can't be trusted with a small knife or blade for cutting lines. I never thought about carrying one before, but I think I will from now on.